


New Year’s Revisited

by yuniesan



Series: Girl Meets World One-Shots [7]
Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, F/M, Fighting for love, Lucas actually doing what he wants and not what everyone wants him to, Maya and Josh now locked in a closet, Mutual Pining, Riley Hiding from her feelings, Work out your feelings woman, before realizing what she needs to do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-01-29 11:10:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21409222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuniesan/pseuds/yuniesan
Summary: The What-If story, where Riley and Lucas work out their feelings, and then lock Maya and Josh in a closet so that they could work out their feelings..... Maya is going to kill Riley one day and she knows this
Relationships: Farkle Minkus/Isadora Smackle, Lucas Friar/Riley Matthews, Maya Hart/Josh Matthews
Series: Girl Meets World One-Shots [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1543339
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	New Year’s Revisited

**Author's Note:**

> Rucas Fanfic Week 2017 day 7 // family OR fix-it fic ; two options here for the last official day of the week. you could go for the family angle, whether that means the matthews or the kids of our kids is up to you!! on the other hand, if there was something mj and co. did that really pushed your buttons, this is your chance to fix it!!
> 
> This is a reimagining of the New Year’s episode except with one slight difference, Josh. From what I heard, Michael Jacobs had originally planned to have Josh at the New Year’s celebration but since the actor who played Josh had had an accident after filming The Tell Tale Tot episode, the Triangle was dragged into Season 3 and just made a mess of the whole show. So I’m going to rewrite the episode, well at least the party. Note – Riley and Maya Fight over the triangle, or at least Maya’s feelings, and Riley hiding the truth…. This is before midnight

She had been hiding from her friends, from her family, but mostly from Lucas. When she told him that she saw him as a brother she felt a part of herself die, even though she was too young to have these feelings. She was only in middle school, she wasn’t supposed to feel that way, but she did. Of course the minute she went to her mother to cry about what was happening, her mother handed her off to Maya, which hurt a little and she had to put up the façade that she was alright with her best friend being with the boy she had feelings for. She did everything for Maya, she would give Maya the world, but in the end everything in her world was falling apart and the only person who saw it was Farkle, and she thought Zay saw it as well. But they weren’t really friends… not yet anyway, and his loyalty was towards Lucas, in the way Maya’s loyalty was supposed to be towards her. 

Then Riley saw Maya’s face in Texas, and knew that her best friend was harboring feelings for the boy Riley had liked for so long now. It hurt, it hurt because in her mind she thought that friends don’t keep secrets, that friends tell each other everything… but it hurt the most because it was Lucas. So Riley stepped back, and gave them a chance. It shouldn’t have hurt when Maya told her that something happened between them. It shouldn’t have hurt to see them on a date, the same night she went out with Charlie. Nothing should hurt because she put herself in that position. 

Everything hurt. 

And Farkle noticed. 

The secret would come out at midnight on New Year’s if Riley didn’t say anything to Lucas, Farkle swore he would say it. So when school let out for the holiday break, she hid herself away from everyone. She went to the Library, but it had too many memories, she went to the park, but it was too cold, she went to the museum but the paintings reminded her of Maya. She finally found herself inside of Grand Central Station, looking up at the constellations in the ceiling, and matching hers and Lucas’ because she still had hope that her heart would be saved, and that Lucas would notice. 

* * *

He stayed away. 

It hurt him and he knew that his friends were keeping something from him, but he stayed away from everyone. He didn’t want to go on another so called date with Maya, it didn’t feel right to him to go out with her. He didn’t want another smoothie poured over his head because he can’t have a decent conversation with her without a single snarky comment. He was just tired. 

He missed Riley. 

Where could he go? He didn’t know, he was about ten seconds away from asking his parents about letting him spend the week in Texas with Pappy Joe, but then he’s reminded that everything happened in Texas… his heart breaks just thinking about it. He couldn’t understand how it happened it how quickly he was being pushed at Maya. Yeah he almost kissed her, and yeah he stopped, why he had done it was because she was pushing his buttons, she was pushing him and he could feel the frayed edges of who he used to be coming out. 

When he was in Texas, his darker side would have done it, it would have completely broken everything that he had built with Riley for a moment to forget all of the problems of his life. But when he looked into Maya’s eyes, he realized that it wasn’t Riley. Her chocolate brown eyes, her soft smile, the way she would steal glances at him when she thought he wasn’t looking. Riley who showed him the sun, when all he saw was the dark grey clouds. 

Riley. 

“I miss you so much,” he said to no one in particular. 

So he walked around the city, and he watched the people. He didn’t have a destination, he just kept going in hopes of finding a way out of the problem he now found himself in. All he saw was Riley, he thought he was imagining it but that’s all he saw, the train, the library, even as the snow began to fall he thought of her. 

He stood inside Grand Central staring at the constellations wondering why everything was so hard. Even when she felt so close. 

* * *

Riley found herself at the bay window watching the snow fall. She had taken the train right as the snow began to fall and went home. She sat in the corner seat, and thought about Lucas. It was their spot, where they met, where they had their first kiss, where everything in her life had changed. It all started because she wanted to be like Maya, but now she just wanted to be that naïve little girl who had hope for everything, including the love of the boy who had burrowed his way into her heart. 

So she watch the snow as it blanketed the city, and thought about Lucas. 

“Riley,” her mother called out but she ignored it. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, especially when that person wasn’t going to really listen to her. She didn’t want to talk to her father either because he would just turn it into a lesson, and she wasn’t in the mood for everyone to know her life, or her feelings. Sometimes it was a burden to have her father as her teacher. 

“Riley I was calling you,” her mother said walking into her room. 

“Sorry I didn’t hear you,” she said lying to her mother. “What do you need?” 

“Maya’s here,” her mother said. 

Riley had pulled up the fire escape ladder, because she didn’t want anyone to come up, but she forgot to ask that she wanted to be alone. 

“I’ll send her up,” her mother said without thinking to ask to see if Riley wanted to see anyone. So Riley pulled on her Ugg boots and climbed out her window without a word and climbed down the steps and down to the ground. Only to backtrack and walk in through the front door and climb back up to the roof. Her footsteps showed that she had left, but in reality she just went around so that they wouldn’t know. 

She didn’t want to talk to her best friend. 

So Riley hid on the roof, the snow settling around her as she watched the city. She didn’t care that it was cold, she didn’t care that everyone would be worried because of course it would cause a big mess since Maya was the one who showed up. 

Her phone buzzed, but she turned off the GPS so no one could track her. She had made sure to disable the tracking feature on her phone after Texas, because the internet was an easy way to find information. Tutorials and all. 

She wanted to be alone. 

* * *

The call came an hour after he had gotten home. 

_ Riley’s missing. _

He couldn’t figure out what had happened since the break had only started, but he was afraid that something had happened to her. But as soon as the call came, he received a message from Riley. 

_ I’m sorry Lucas. I didn’t want to be your sister, but I would do anything for Maya, and give her everything. Even if it meant that I would be hurt the most. _

He couldn’t understand but when he tried to call the phone went straight to voicemail. The messages never went through. So he cried, because he was hurting for Riley, and he was angry at Maya. 

After a few minutes he sent the message along with a long explanation to the one person he thought would help them figure this all out. And then he left. 

He needed to find Riley. 

* * *

In the end Riley went home, she was freezing but she didn’t care, the cold opened her eyes to the problem at hand. Maya didn’t like Lucas the way she did. For some reason she got this urge to fall for him after the yearbooks, it wasn’t the same. She wasn’t sure about any of it, but in the end Riley was sure of one thing and that was her Uncle Josh. 

Josh who has always been the one person Maya was always after, even when he constantly pushed the age difference between them. Josh who was the reason she snuck out to go to a college party just to see him. If Riley held onto the insecurities about her relationship with Lucas than Maya had the same ones for Josh. 

When she stepped into her apartment, her parents fawned over her, her brother hugged, her friends just stared as if she had done something that was out of character. The last few months for her was out of character. Then she saw Maya, tear stained and worried, but for some reason Riley knew that she needed to push Maya to admit her own fears, the ones that stemmed from Josh, and herself. Riley was done giving her best friend everything, because she needed her best friend to start fighting for herself. 

Her parents lectured her as she stared at her best friend who clung to Lucas, even though he kept trying to pull away. The act alone was startling to Riley, because if he had actually liked Maya he wouldn’t pull away like that. 

“Stop,” Riley said after a moment. “No more lectures, I just need a moment.” 

Riley walked away, and went to her room, but no one followed her. She changed her clothes and wrapped herself in her comforter and waited. Then Maya walked into the room and sat at the window. Riley joined her and sat down. 

“Why do you like Lucas?” Riley asked without waiting to hear Maya’s question. “Maya why Lucas of all people?” 

“I just do, is that a problem?” Maya answered giving her a questioning look as if it were Riley’s fault they were in this problem. Of course it was Riley’s fault, but in the end she was going to fix it. No more dates with Charlie Gardner, no more lies between friends, no more hurt feelings. 

“Yes,” she said staring at her best friend. 

Maya’s eyes widened at the single answer, “Riley you and Lucas are brother and sister…” 

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Riley interrupted. “That is a lie, I only said it because you did, I have never indicated that I liked Lucas as a brother and you know it. This is some fantasy you put together to make yourself feel better over ‘falling’ for the boy your best friend has had feelings for.” 

“No Riley,” Maya said looking at her as if it would magically put them on equal footing. “When I pretended to be you…” 

“You’re not me,” Riley said. “You’re my best friend Maya, almost like a sister, but for some reason you have put this image in your head that you deserve Lucas because Josh won’t return your feelings.” 

“You’re insane,” Maya said standing up and walking towards the door. “When you want to go back to normal call me.” 

Maya walked out of her room, but Riley already knew that everyone else had heard. This house has no secrets. 

* * *

Lucas couldn’t believe what he was hearing, Riley was telling Maya that this was all about Josh, that everything that was happening was because Maya feared rejection from the one guy she truly liked. He didn’t feel guilty now about sending Josh that message, because in the end he knew that there would never be something between him and Maya. Even if Riley didn’t live in New York, and the only people he knew were Maya, Farkle, and Zay. 

Josh sent him a message to meet him at Topanga’s but Lucas told him that he needed to be at the Matthews apartment. He told Josh that they needed to fix this because even though Riley was trying to fix everything, Maya needed to face the problem herself. Riley shouldn’t have done so much for her best friend. 

“Hey Huckleberry,” Maya said as she sat down next to him. “Wanna go out on another date?” 

“No,” he said. He didn’t want another ‘date’ he just wanted them to be friends and that it. “Maya I’m sorry, but I don’t like you like that. I think you know that, but for some reason you keep pushing the issue.” 

“Not you too, Lucas, for crying out loud I like you, and I want to get to know you better.” 

“Then why did you pour a smoothie over my head when I told you about my biggest dream Maya?” 

“Because I get this urge to mess you up, like how little kids usually push each other around because they like one another.” 

“That’s not a healthy reason for a relationship Maya.” 

He stood up and walked to Riley’s room, he wanted to confront all of this and finally fix the problems they were all having because he knew that if it didn’t change now their friendships wouldn’t survive, and if they somehow did it wouldn’t be the same as it was before. 

Riley was sitting on the corner of her bed wrapped in her overly large comforter, he could tell that she couldn’t shake off the cold. Her lips were slightly blue around the edges but her cheeks were pink. When she looked up and met his eyes he knew that she had lied for the last few months, and it had hurt her more than she had let show. 

“Why?” was all he asked her. 

“Because for some reason I’m the kind of person who gives away everything without the chance of ever getting it back. Because I prioritize my friends over myself, because I’m insecure about everything, but usually only fight the social public battles while I hide away my own pain.” 

He sat down next to her and pulled her close, he knew her father would run him out of the room, out of the house just for being so close but he didn’t care. He always liked how well she fit in the crook of his arm, how she smelled like sunshine and flowers even on a gloomy day. 

“No more of that,” he said as he kissed the top of her head. “Riley I’ve only ever liked you, I’m sorry that this all happened but it’s always been you since the moment we met.” 

“I know, and I also know that I have to fight my best friend for this, because she’s fighting herself right now because she’s scared.” 

“So does that mean you’re willing to try with me?” 

“Maybe,” she said looking down at the ground. “I wanted to for a while, then the mess with the yearbooks, and the semi-formal happened Texas happened. Everything happened.” 

“We need to be more honest about our feelings,” he said. “I don’t care what anyone else thinks, Riley you know me better than anyone else, even Zay who has been my friend since childhood. You’ve given me hope for something more than anger and darkness.” 

“You give me hope too,” she said finally looking at him. “Now I have to go fight this out with Maya, so drag her back here will you.” 

She kissed him on his cheek and smiled at him. “Okay but we’re not done with this conversation,” he said as he walked out of the room.” 

* * *

Uncle Josh climbed into her room through the bay window, but Riley just pushed him into the closet and told him to be quiet. Lucas pushed Maya inside and closed the door. 

“What the hell?” Maya said as she stumbled inside. 

“Maya it’s time to deal with your insecurities,” Riley said looking her friend in the eye. “No more hiding behind me, or what I like, no more hiding behind my family, or our friends.” 

“I’m not insecure about anything Riley, that’s all on you.” 

“Josh,” was all Riley said looking at her best friend. 

“What about him?” 

“He’s the one you like,” Riley said. 

“Yeah so what, is it bad to like Lucas too, a girl can have options you know.” 

“Yes they can, but not the guy that your best friend has been trying to sort her feelings for, and no don’t bring up that stupid brother argument because you know that it’s a lie, you’re just trying to justify yourself to your own hurt feelings. Even though Josh never said anything about not liking you.” 

“Oh please Riley, you don’t know anything.” 

“I do know that you’re willing to hurt me, to hurt our friendship because you’re as insecure as the rest of us, because you’re afraid of getting hurt because one person did you wrong, while everyone else is trying to make it better. I get it your dad left, but not every guy out there is like your father so get over yourself.” 

“Like you would know you have everything in the world, the perfect family who’s always there for you the perfect room, the perfect life.” 

“Yeah except its not perfect, my parents fight like every other couple in the world, I get bullied at school, and my room has been like this since I was a kid, I babysit my brother in order to afford the things I want. I work for what I want. You have a mother who loves you, a place to live, and your grandmother who’s there for you. The only thing you don’t have is your father and honestly he doesn’t deserve you so stop acting like a martyr and figure yourself out.” 

Riley did the one thing she could think of and shoved Maya into the closet with Josh before shoving her desk chair under the door knob. 

“While you’re at it figure out how you both feel because I’m tired, and I have no strength to continue this.” 

Riley walked out of the room and took Lucas’ hand. “I just locked her in the closet with Josh, those two or either coming out of there with the feelings sorted or I’m going to die once they come out. So I might as well live for the moment,” she said and pulled down the green eyed boy before she threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him close. “I’m sorry for pushing you away.” 

* * *

Maya and Josh had gotten out of the closet after two hours, Riley noticed that they were both blushing. Maya would late tell her a quick thank you, and apologize to both her and Lucas for what happened. Josh stayed in the city with them, but the two had decided to play the long game and wait out their relationship, instead they opted for talking and getting to know one another better over forcing the boyfriend/girlfriend issue. 

When New Year’s Eve came Riley was standing next to Lucas when midnight came, holding his hand and smiling like the sun had finally come out of the clouds. She was happy Riley once again, and she realized that love, like life was worth fighting for. 


End file.
